All fired up
over trucks
City leader drops request
to ticket ambulances.
PAGE 6A

With the new year comes
new leadership at Cat Depot.
Former Meow Mayor Bernard
was adopted in December,
and newly elected Meow
Mayor Stardust is set to
transition into the position in
January. Mayor Stardust said
though she is excited to take
on the role, she would rather
start the new year with a new
family. “I foresee a lot of work
in this position,” Stardust
said in a statement. “To tell
the truth I would rather avoid
the responsibilities altogether and bask in the glow of an
adoring new family.”

Courtesy photo

Brothers and
Sisters in arms
Sarasota Police Department
officers will be wearing black
bands across their badges
as an expression of solidarity with the Orlando Police
Department and Orange
County Sheriff’s Office as
they mourn the loss of two
of their officers. Orlando
Police Department Master
Sgt. Debra Clayton was shot
to death and Orange County
Sheriff’s Deputy Norman
Lewis was killed hours
later in a traffic crash while
searching for the suspect.
“This is our sign of respect
and remembrance for those
who made the ultimate
sacrifice,” the Sarasota
Police Department said in an
Instagram post.

David Conway

Phebe Morgan signs a banner expressing support for firefighters and paramedics at a rally at Morton’s Gourmet Market last week.

Like a good
neighbor
New liquor license
follows praise of
downtown bar.
PAGE 5A

A+E

AGREEING
TO DISAGREE
INSIDE

SARASOTA OBSERVER

|

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017

WEEK OF
JANUARY 12,
2017

“As a firefighter myself for 28 years, I’m always looking to get back to
the area I’m serving as quickly as possible to help the community.”
Sarasota County Fire Chief Michael Regnier, on Commissioner Susan Chapman’s complaints
about ambulances using Orange Avenue READ MORE ON PAGE 6A

Two more enter City Commission race
W

ith two days left to enter the March
14 race for two at-large City Commission seats, the field of candidates has
grown to eight.
Mikael Sandstrom, an employee at the
company that operates Olivia Boutique
on St. Armands Circle, and Matt Sperling, a retired stock broker, are the latest
to file paperwork to join the race.
Although he’s not a familiar face at
City Hall, Sandstrom said his political experience makes him a qualified
candidate. In 2008, he worked on the
presidential campaign of Libertarian
candidate Bob Barr.
Soon after, he moved back to Sweden
to study political science. He said he’s
been exposed to a variety of political
perspectives, which has put him in a position to fairly evaluate all points of view.
“I am a mediator, so to speak, given
my background,” Sandstrom said.
As he kicks off his campaign, some of
the ideas he mentioned, like the public
effort to reopen Beach Road, involve
issues governed by Sarasota County.
Others include an emphasis on embracing more events and establishing safer
pedestrian conditions on major thoroughfares such as U.S. 41.
Sandstrom said he wouldn’t bring
many deeply felt positions to his campaign. He positioned himself as an avatar
for the interests of voters, willing to listen
to all sides before making a decision.
He acknowledged his relative lack of
direct experience in city government.
Still, he said he’s well-suited to step into

Mikael Sandstrom

the role of city commissioner.
“I’m planning on going full-steam
ahead.” Sandstrom said.
Sperling wants to carry on the political
legacy of his father, Ted Sperling, a former City Commissioner who advocated
for the preservation of public land.
Matt Sperling is casting himself as an
advocate for the working class in Sarasota. He talked about an urgent need to
create workforce housing so the employees at businesses downtown could live in
close proximity to the places they work.
“I don’t want to live in a city designed
for the privileged,” Sperling said.
He’s also positioning himself as a
rabble-rouser. On an issue like homelessness, he said he would insist Longboat
Key, Venice and North Port begin to
shoulder the burden of addressing the
issue. The prospect of disturbing relations between local governments didn’t
trouble him.
“I’m not running for County Commission,” Sperling said. “I want the other
cities to be mad at me.”
Other issues on his agenda include
halting work on the Lift Station 87
project and revitalizing Newtown without gentrification. A Sarasota native,
Sperling said he was inspired to run
because he’s angry about the direction
the city is growing in — and he said he’s
seen a similar sentiment among other
residents.
“There’s a lot of anger on what’s happening to the city,” Sperling said.

Matt Sperling

BY THE NUMBERS

18

years Thunder by the Bay
was held in downtown Sarasota, a streak that came to
an end this year.
SEE PAGE 4A

8

businesses in the city designated as “nightclub” uses
— including, most recently,
World of Beer.
SEE PAGE 5A

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ince making its public
debut in September, the
resident activist group
STOP! has seen neighborhoods throughout the city
embrace its agenda.
Already, eight neighborhoods
from Bird Key to Central Cocoanut have officially endorsed the
group’s work. STOP! is focused
on changing city regulations
regarding development, traffic,
tree preservation and pedestrian
accessibility.
It’s still early, but STOP! steering committee member Kate
Lowman is confident the group
can make a difference on policy.
Specifically, the group is optimistic it can thwart any effort
to expand the administrativeapproval process used for
developments in the downtown core.
“We really think if we hold
hands and just say ‘no,’ that
we can probably stop that,”
Lowman said.
Whether that’s a good thing
depends on whom you ask.
STOP! is focusing its efforts
on one aspect of how development works in the city. The target of its ire is administrative
approval, the process that allows
city staff to determine whether
proposed developments meet
requirements outlined in the
zoning code.
In addition to opposing the
expansion of administrative
approval, the group is calling for
a return to the previous review
process downtown. That required
a public hearing in front of the
Planning Board and City Commission approval for most developments. Their refrain is simple:
End the experiment.
“Go back to the old system that
was in place 13 years ago,” Lowman said. “It’s tried and tested.
It’s still in use in the neighborhoods.”
Andrew Georgiadis, an urban
planner who was involved with
writing the city’s form-based
code before leaving for his own
private venture, said STOP! has
sparked a nationwide conversation. New Urbanists
— planners who ascribe
to a philosophy emphasizing walkable, mixeduse neighborhoods — are
revisiting what, exactly,
community input on specific projects should entail
under a form-based code.
But planners aren’t writing off administrative approval entirely. Georgiadis said a
lengthier public review process
could have a chilling effect on
development. He also said public
input could steer projects in the
wrong direction.
“I think it’s wonderful to get the
collective wisdom the public can
offer on a project,” he said. “My
hope is the public hearing process
doesn’t actually open the door to
making projects less dense and
less urban than what the best
practices tell us they should be.”
As the code is being drafted,
residents have suggested higher
density or commercial projects
aren’t appropriate for an area
comprising mainly single-family houses. Georgiadis said this
is backwards: The goal should be
creating complete neighborhoods
with a mix of housing types that
allow residents to walk to stores
to purchase everyday goods.
This encourages developers to
build more affordable housing
and can reduce the number of
cars on the road. Allowing only
single-family housing doesn’t.
“We think less density is better,

|

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017

3A

Crack the code!
There’s a growing call to allow more public input on proposed
developments. Planners say that’s not necessarily a good thing.
IT’S A METAPHOR

STOP! uses an egg-centric example
to explain the administrative approval process — and what the
expanded scope of administrative
approval might look like under a
form-based code.

n Right now, administrative
approval is concentrated in the
downtown core — or the yolk.
Since 2003, staff has determined
whether most proposed developments meet the standards outlined
in the code. Residents can submit
comments and challenge an administrative approval decision, but
there is no formal public input.
In the rest of the city — the egg
white — most development applications must go through a multistep review process. That includes
a meeting in front of the city’s
Development Review Committee,
a public hearing in front of the Planning Board and final approval by
the City Commission.

n As the
city works on
developing a new
citywide form-based
zoning code, the Urban
Design Studio is likely
to propose the expansion of administrative
approval outside of the
downtown core.
STOP! said Urban
Design Studio Director
Karin Murphy is aware of
the concerns regarding
administrative approval, and
hopes to introduce more
transparency for the development-review process in the
new code.
The group remains concerned,
though, suggesting the proposed
changes will be akin to “scrambling” the egg — diluting the
strength of administrative approval
in the downtown core, but spreading it throughout the rest of the
city.

but it’s really not in the long run,”
Georgiadis said. “You need to
trust the people who are trained
in the built environment to know
that, in certain cases.”
Despite the pushback from New
Urbanists — among them Karin
Murphy, author of the forthcoming citywide form-based code
— STOP! is emboldened by the
positive response it has gotten
from Sarasota residents.
“If that hadn’t happened, I
think we’d say, ‘OK, that’s a moot
point,’” said Jennifer AhearnKoch, a STOP! steering committee member. “But the community
has really reacted en force.”
In addition to such large-scale
projects such as Vue Sarasota Bay,
Ahearn-Koch said it’s essential to
offer residents an opportunity to
comment on smaller projects like
a 7-Eleven, which she characterized as “high intensity.” The group
is unwavering in its belief that
additional public input on proposed developments in the city
isn’t an unreasonable request.
“You don’t get to remove a cog
in the wheel of progress,” AhearnKoch said of the public hearing
process. “You get three minutes
to talk.”
Some residents are exploring a
middle ground between the two
development-review processes.
Patrick Gannon, president of
the Downtown Sarasota Condo
Association, suggested a system

STICK TO
THE PLAN
STOP! has used Vue Sarasota Bay as an example of
what happens when the
public doesn’t get an opportunity to comment on
individual projects. Planner Andrew Georgiadis
agrees the high-rise project has design issues, but
he said those issues could
be avoided if the code was
properly written.
He said officials tasked
with applying and maintaining a form-based code
should be focused on the
ongoing evolution of New
Urbanist principles. Based
on his experience, that
emphasis hasn’t occurred
among city staff.
“They’re excellent, excellent people — but there
was an urgent need to
plug into the movement at
a state and national level,”
Georgiadis said.
Tim Litchet, the city’s
director of Neighborhood
and Development Services, said staff has tried
to stay apprised on New
Urbanism. He said that
became more challenging
following the elimination
of the planning department in 2008.
The city is in the process of hiring a planning
director, and Litchet
said the planning staff
would be focused on best
practices for maintaining a form-based code in
the future — although a
posting for the planning
director position makes
no mention of form-based
codes or New Urbanism.
“If the job description
doesn’t specifically say
they’re going to have to
be a New Urbanist, they’re
going to have to be very
familiar with that terminology,” Litchet said.

in which residents could petition
a developer to hold a public workshop before city staff reviews a
project.
Murphy is also considering
provisions in the new code that
would enhance transparency
while maintaining administrative
approval. While STOP! remains
committed to a firm stance
opposing administrative approval, the group takes solace in the
knowledge the ongoing dialog is
moving in their favored direction.
“I think that’s ultimately a
really good thing,” Ahearn-Koch
said. “I don’t mind having that
conversation further until we get
it right.”

SARASOTA OBSERVER

|

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017

With Thunder gone, downtown reacts

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Thunder by the Bay has
left, but merchants still
disagree on its impact.
DAVID CONWAY
DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

For the first time in nearly
20 years, Thunder didn’t roll
through downtown Sarasota.
On Jan. 7-8, the main festivities for the Thunder by the Bay
motorcycle festival took place
not on Main Street, but in Lakewood Ranch. The new site was a
response to feedback from merchants and residents who said
the event had a negative impact
on business downtown.
After this weekend, the question of whether Thunder by the
Bay was good or bad for downtown remains open. Some businesses were happy to have a
more quiet weekend, but others
observed a noticeable downtick
in activity.
Here’s what a few downtown
merchants had to say about life
after Thunder by the Bay:

“It was less noisy.
Other than that, we
didn’t miss anything.
On the contrary — it
was nice and peaceful. I’m very much
for ‘Thunder by the
ex-Bay’ to be whatever they want to
be, except on Palm Avenue.”
— Sergio Baril, Mariposa Designs,
53 S. Palm Ave.

“It was really
very slow (this
weekend).
Normally, after
New Year’s Eve,
we slow down for
two weeks and
then the season will pick up. We were
looking forward to Thunder by the Bay,
because it really helps us a lot.”
— Merly Soliano, Patrick’s 1481, 1481 Main St.

“The noise levels of the music was one of the major
complaints. All we had to do is maybe adjust the volume,
not remove the event. I think there was little effort in
finding a solution to keep it here, rather than a solution to
remove it ... After a while, you wonder if they’re going to
get rid of the farmers market, if they’re going to get rid of
the Fourth of July events, if they’re going to get rid of the
Christmas parade. When does it stop?”

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Downtown liquor license requests remain divisive
There’s little controversy
surrounding World of Beer
on Main Street, but a split
City Commission was
hesitant to approve a new
liquor license for the bar.
DAVID CONWAY
DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

David Conway

Although few residents spoke out against the use
of a liquor license at World of Beer, commissioners
were split regarding the bar’s application.

The City Commission voted Jan.
3 to hold a public hearing before
allowing the use of a new liquor
license at a Main Street bar — and
less than four hours later reversed
itself, approving the application.
World of Beer has drawn scant
criticism since it opened at 1888
Main St. in 2014. The two votes
last week were part of a surprisingly contentious approval process, underscoring concerns surrounding the property’s future.
World of Beer was applying for
the right to use a 4COP liquor
license, which the city designates as a “nightclub” use. World
of Beer has used an SRX license,
designated for restaurants. The
bar applied for a new license in
September because it failed to
generate 51% of its revenue from
food sales, which is required for
the SRX license.
One of the residents concerned
about the proposal was Curt
Schantz, who lives in the Rivo at
Ringling condominium at 1771
Ringling Blvd. He makes clear his
worries don’t pertain to World of
Beer specifically.
“They’ve been really good

neighbors,” Schantz said.
“They’ve taken great pains to
control their music so it’s not a
problem for us.”
The use of a 4COP license
requires City Commission
approval. No residents showed
up to a workshop Sept. 21 to discuss World of Beer’s proposal. On
Dec. 14, the city’s Planning Board
voted 4-1 to recommend approval
of the liquor-license application.
At that meeting, Schantz and
fellow Rivo resident Dean Miller
asked: What would happen if
World of Beer moved out and
another restaurant moved in?
The right to use the 4COP license
would transfer with the property.
“The two predecessors that
were in there, Eat Here and
Esca, were really bad neighbors,”
Schantz said. “Week after week
— high amplification, with music
late into the evening.”
Although the commission initially voted to hold another public hearing to discuss those concerns, Commissioner Liz Alpert
changed her vote. The majority of
the commission applauded World
of Beer’s track record.
“If it ain’t broke, leave it,”
Commissioner Suzanne Atwell
said. “They’ve had quite a good
reputation.”
But residents at Rivo remain
concerned there will be more
noise-related issues in the future.
Staff said any business would
have to comply with the city’s
noise regulations, which prevent
amplified music outdoors after
10 p.m. That was little comfort
for Schantz.
“The noise ordinance is not

relief for the citizens at all,”
Schantz said.
The proposal also got the attention of residents on the other end
of Main Street. Patrick O’Brien
lives at 100 Central Ave. and has
spoken out regarding several
4COP license applications. Some
of those businesses — including Cask and Ale and Duval’s —
agreed to a condition that prohibits the right to use the license
from transferring to a new tenant.
World of Beer did not agree to
such a condition, and O’Brien
fears the city is setting a precedent. He said the evolution of the
Ivory Lounge from jazz lounge to
full-fledged nightclub shows why
the conditions are necessary.
“Based on the well-documented experience of Ivory, the
real concern is the next owner,”
O’Brien said.
Atwell, meanwhile, wants to
investigate whether the “nightclub” label generates undue anxiety surrounding bar proposals.
World of Beer owner Mark Broderick shared her sentiment.
“It’s a weird language to use,”
Broderick said.
In September, the Planning
Board expressed an interest in
creating definitions that better
clarify the character of proposed
businesses. Staff said any effort to
update the code would only come
following commission direction.
Atwell indicated she wanted a
way to avoid more complicated
and contentious applications.
“It’d be nice to have something
in place where we didn’t have
to go through this all the time,”
Atwell said.

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Chapman ends call to cite ‘ambulance scofflaws’
As public outrage grows,
city commissioner says
she’s sorry for suggesting
rescue crews avoid her
neighborhood on the way
back to Fire Station 1.
DAVID CONWAY
DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

Subject: Ambulance scofflaws.
That’s how the email that has
inspired outspoken criticism
against City Commissioner Susan
Chapman began. Sent Dec. 30, the
email to city administration notes
that two ambulances were using
Orange Avenue as they returned
from Sarasota Memorial Hospital
to Fire Station 1 on Fourth Street.
Chapman, who lives near
Orange Avenue south of the Hudson Bayou, has repeatedly raised
concerns about vehicles using the
street as a detour while the Osprey
Avenue bridge is closed. On this
day, she went a step further.
“Orange Avenue south of
Mound is a residential street that
restricts trucks,” Chapman wrote
in regard to the ambulances. “I
think it is time for these vehicles
to be ticketed.”
That email, available on the
city’s website, spread on social
media. One of the people who
saw it was Maverick Johnson, a
co-host of the Maverick and Lulu
radio show on 92.1 CTQ. Johnson
took exception to the email, and
discussed it on the morning show.
Listeners had a similar reaction.

Susan Chapman

David Conway

Lulu Soeder, of The Maverick and Lulu radio show, is seen during a live
broadcast Friday from Morton’s Gourmet Market in support of emergency
personnel.

“We felt that was crazy,” Johnson said. “We talked it about on
the air ... and the outrage has
grown and grown and grown.”
That outrage culminated in a
show of support for Sarasota firefighters and paramedics Friday
morning. The Maverick and Lulu
show broadcasted live from Morton’s Gourmet Market on Osprey
Avenue, encouraging listeners to
sign a banner thanking those first
responders for their work.
The event, a direct response
to Chapman’s comments, drew
hundreds of people, Johnson said.
One of them was Chapman her-

self, who offered an on-air apology.
In an interview with the Sarasota Observer a day earlier, Chapman acknowledged she made an
error in judgment.
“I shouldn’t have said it,”
Chapman said. “I admit it.”
Chapman said she wasn’t being
serious about ticketing ambulance drivers, but that she was
troubled by the vehicles driving
down Orange Avenue. She said
other people in her neighborhood
have raised the same concerns to
her, and that she was only speaking out on behalf of residents.

“I see it enough to know it’s an
issue,” she said. “I get complaints
about it.”
More broadly, residents have
expressed concerns about traffic
on Orange during the yearlong
closure of the Osprey Avenue
bridge. In December, the city
installed a requested temporary
speed table on the street.
There are also signs on the road
that state through traffic is prohibited for trucks. City Attorney
Robert Fournier said there’s no
language in the city code exempting emergency vehicles from that
prohibition, but he suggested it
might not apply to ambulances
heading to the hospital.
“Any vehicle that has business
in the area can’t be considered
through traffic,” Fournier said.
City spokeswoman Jan Thornburg said officials are asking drivers to voluntarily comply with the
designated detour route on U.S. 41
while the bridge is closed. Chapman wanted staff to coordinate to
ensure ambulances weren’t cutting through the neighborhood.

“What I had asked them to do —
and what my neighborhood asked
them when we were planning this
— is to talk to fire stations and the
emergency rooms about cooperation,” Chapman said.
But Sarasota County Fire Chief
Michael Regnier said ambulance
drivers are not instructed to
avoid specific streets. He hadn’t
heard any concerns from residents about the vehicles using
Orange Avenue before Chapman’s
remarks. He said the two ambulances she identified in her email
are the busiest in the county.
“They’re taught from the
beginning as an EMT and paramedic that the only way they can
respond quickly is to be back in
their area as quickly as possible,”
Regnier said.
Merv Kendall, president of
the Suncoast Professional Firefighters and Paramedics union,
expressed a similar sentiment
during Friday’s event at Morton’s.
He said he was shocked by Chapman’s comments.
“Our guys don’t pick Orange
Avenue to make noise,” Kendall
said. “At a time traffic is tough,
taking 41 and a route everyone
would prefer — you’re likely to get
stuck in traffic.”
Kendall said he accepted Chapman’s apology and is hopeful
emergency personnel would be
able to do their work without
drawing additional criticism.
Chapman remains interested
in exploring solutions to the concerns she has raised.
“I recognize this is a special
situation, and we all have to try to
work through it,” Chapman said.

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Just because it is a new year, is that any reason to think that putting your character flaws on a list will make them magically go away?

New year? So what!
KRISTINE NICKEL

Take New Year’s pledges
one step at a time, and
don’t beat yourself up.

H

ere we are again. Yet
another New Year’s Day
where I’m delving into
a lovely, leather-bound
notebook to record my resolutions for 2017. If I could find
last year’s lovely, leather-bound
notebook I’d bet you a peppermint mocha latte (before they get
retired for the season) the items
would be close to identical.
n Eat more vegetables.
n Eat less crackers and cheese
(Triscuits are a personal food
group).
n Get in 10,000 steps a day.
(Hooking on the pedometer
would be a good place to start.)
n Meditate a minimum of 20
minutes a day.
And these would be just the
subset of the item that tops
everyone’s list: Lose weight.
You see, somewhere along the
past couple of years, in an article
like this, I learned you should
break things down into smaller
tasks to accomplish them.
But wait a minute: Whoever legislated that people make
resolutions for the new year,
anyway? And just because it is
a new year, is that any reason to
think that putting your character
flaws on a list will make them
magically go away?
NEW YEAR, NEW APPROACH

It’s clear that for resolutions
to work, we need to take a new
approach at how we look at this.
“New Year’s is a very good
time for reflecting on the year
past and perhaps identifying
changes you would like to make
in your lifestyle,” says retired

psychotherapist William Green.
Psychologist Lynn Bufka
concurs, writing, “It is not
the extent of the change that
matters, but rather the act of
recognizing that lifestyle change
is important and working toward
it, one step at a time.”
So what is a good approach
that takes things one step at a
time as Bufka suggests?
Get real. Use the insight you’ve
gained in reflecting upon the
past year to make an assessment
of how you work best.
If you have three dogs to walk
or kids to get to the bus, you’re
not going to have a mindful
meditation session before all of
that is accomplished. Look at
your life and be brutal about how
you can cut some things out to
replace them with more healthful activity. By making your
resolutions realistic, you will
have a much higher probability
of accomplishing your goals.
Start small. Even though
you’ve figured out how you can
squeeze time for more exercise
or meditation, it isn’t going to
happen effortlessly. Start small.
Then build on that success.
Several important studies
reported on recently point to an
important element in changing behavior: Will power, or the
motivation we need to change, is
akin to a muscle. The more you
exercise it, the stronger it gets!
I find that incredibly exciting.
Every time you make that positive change, make a mental note
that you’re building your willpower muscle. Give yourself a
mental woo-hoo and watch that
will-power muscle grow.
TAKE IT ONE AT A TIME

Even though your will-power
muscle is approaching the size
of Michael Phelps shoulders,
get one behavior change purring
along before you tackle another.
The American Psychological
Association reminds us that,
“Unhealthy behaviors develop
over the course of time. Thus,
replacing unhealthy behaviors
with healthy ones requires time.”
It’s easy to fall into the trap of
trying to fix everything at once.
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potential failure.
Don’t beat yourself up. Every
article on self-help ends with
this. Why? Because people do
it over and over again. You’re
having a super fun girls night out
and you dive into that incredible
looking mound of nachos. The
self-talk goes like this: “Oh no.
I’ve blown it. I’m a total loser. I’ll
never get into a size 10 again.”
Blah, blah, blah. Cut yourself
some slack. Tomorrow’s a new
day, and many incredibly successful people who have changed
their lives will tell you it’s all
about one day at a time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kristine Nickel is a marketing
communications consultant and
former marketing/PR exec. For
over 30 years she has relieved
her stress by writing features for
publications across the country.

A common-sense
thought is for the city
to manage the tax
dollars it has. If that
means fewer parks with
better maintenance,
then so be it.

I

was aghast as I absorbed
David Conway’s recent article on the potential Sarasota
City Park District tax. Don’t we
already pay taxes to cover the
cost of our parks?
Our city commissioners
apparently feel enthroned
simply to pass a tax without a
proper vote of the electorate.

drive by Whitaker four or five
times a week and seldom see
anyone using the park.
Do we really need another
park when the ones we have
are underutilized, and we don’t
have the funds to maintain
them?
Conway’s article quotes
Kathy Ohlrich saying “… right
now, funding for parks comes
out of the general fund.” Yes,
those are the taxes we all pay.
Ohlrich then goes on to offer
that if yoga classes are offered,
presumably people will
embrace the parks further.
Why have the parks at all if
we must induce our citizens to
use the parks? Should we tax
the residents to provide free
yoga, professional trainers,
etc.?
A novel and common-sense
thought is for the city to manage the tax dollars it has. If that
means fewer parks with better
maintenance, then so be it.
Likewise, if each city neighborhood deems a park necessary, that should be an investment by the neighborhood, not
a tax spread across all citizens.
Jerry Fogle, the city’s director of parks and recreation,
is quoted as suggesting, “We
don’t want to put any type of
undue burden on our taxpay-

ers and residents, if other
options are available.” Again,
the option is to hold the city
officials accountable to better
management of finite tax dollars.
Haven’t we as citizens of
Sarasota learned enough? The
Sarasota City Commission is at
odds with Sarasota County for,
among other reasons, the inappropriate use of Downtown
Community Redevelopment
Agency funds. These funds
were to be used specifically
for downtown development.
Yet, city commissioners and
administrators chose to divert
these funds for other uses —
much as the U.S. Congress has
done with the Social Security Trust Fund. Thus, the
well-intended, and generally
well-served, CRA is not being
renewed because the county
commissioners appropriately
said “no” to the City Commission’s use of the CRA for nondesignated matters.
The spending habits of the
City Commission and administrators make drunken sailors
look rational — with apologies
to sailors. Did anyone miss the
real reason for revisiting parking meters downtown? It’s not
because of downtown parking
problems. It's simply because

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the city now needs to pay for a
bloated and unnecessary Parking Division and parking monitors to roam the streets looking
for parking violators.
Let’s save the talk about mismanagement of the lift station,
etc. etc., for another day.
The people of the city of
Sarasota should recognize this
ruse for what it is and rebel
now. This is nothing more than
an endeavor by the city commissioners to grab funds for
their continuing fiscal mismanagement.
If we let them do it once,
they will use it as a green
light to come up with other
disguised taxes to feed their
habits.
What will the City Commission dream up next to fleece
the citizens? A homeless tax
— oops, I think Tom Barwin
has already floated that idea.
A clean air tax on the air we
breathe?
To the city commissioners
and administrators: Start being
financially accountable to the
citizens!

MY VIEW

New parks tax: More fiscal mismanagement
Being straightforward,
who isn’t for open spaces and
parks? Some of our nation’s
greatest parks originally were
meant as gathering places
for people to exchange news
and pleasantries. Today,
parks have evolved to include
playgrounds, ball fields, water
access, etc., with many serving a valuable purpose. Yet, it
is easy to support something
that is seemingly free — either
someone else is paying for it, or
it is a hidden tax.
According to the city of
Sarasota website, 39 public
parks are listed and probably more if all ballfields are
counted.
Consider some recent history. On Nov. 25, 2014, the
Sarasota Observer stated:
“Budgetary concerns …. causing the city to put planned
improvements on hold and
making regular maintenance
a challenge.” Then on Feb. 11,
2016, the Sarasota Observer
again noted “funding park
maintenance is a financial
challenge.”
Now the city is trying to turn
the bayfront into another park.
Yet, just four blocks north of
the bayfront is Whitaker Gateway Park — also on the bay.
How often is that park used? I

9A

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017

Joel Schleicher is a resident of
Sarasota.

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10A

SARASOTA OBSERVER

|

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017

New managing editor arrives at Observer
Journalist grew up
and spent most of
his career in Florida.
ERIC GARWOOD
MANAGING EDITOR

East Coast vs. West Coast.
No, it’s not a hip-hop rivalry,
nor is it a comparison of offensive styles in the NFL.
It’s my life, and Interstate 4
runs right through it.
I’m new, you see, to the
Sarasota area. But while you
can count my days traversing
Tamiami Trail without flipping
a calendar page, Florida’s West
Coast isn’t a total unknown.
I’m nearly a Florida native,
moving to Pasco County at age
13 at a time when U.S. 19 was
four sparsely traveled lanes, and
traffic lights were few.
High school and college also
came and went in the Tampa Bay
area, with occasional springtraining trips, reporting assignments and vacations bringing me
south of the Sunshine Skyway.
All told, I’ve logged nearly
70% of my 54 years in Florida.
Hudson, Tampa, Merritt Island,
Melbourne.
Most recently, I spent 24 years
on Florida’s Space Coast, where
surfers rave over waist-high
waves, and rockets fly so frequently that we act like we aren’t
watching (we are, though).
So now, it’s back west for
another chapter as managing
editor of the Sarasota Observer

Eric Garwood

HOW TO REACH HIM
Eric Garwood can be reached at
366-3468, Ext. 334, and at
egarwood@yourobserver.com

and Longboat Observer, practicing the kind of journalism I like
best — putting your neighborhood and its issues center stage.
Often, it will be serious, but
maybe we can make you smile.
In either case, I bet we never
publish an issue without including someone or something in
which you’re interested.
While doing that, I’m eager to
learn more about my new home
(an escalator in a Publix?). Along
the way, I’m looking forward to
meeting you, listening to your
concerns and getting a sense of
what’s important in these parts.
I keep hearing from pretty
much everyone I meet that the
West Coast is the Best Coast.
From what I’ve seen so far,
that’s more than just a clever
turn of a phrase.

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These agents ranked in
the top 10 for total volume
in the 2016 MLS year-end
report for Sarasota and
Manatee counties.

KATIE JOHNS
STAFF WRITER

Not only is Coldwell Banker
Residential Real Estate’s Roger
Pettingell the top-ranked individual agent in Sarasota County
for the fifth consecutive year, but
in 2016, he also ranked No. 1 in
real estate sales in Sarasota and
Manatee counties.
According to the Multiple Listing Service’s 2016 Agent Awards
Report, Pettingell closed 66 sales
in 2016 with a total sales volume
of $77.54 million, up from the $72
million he sold in 2015. He credits
his success to what he calls the
marketing machine — five fulltime employees who support him.
“I’ve been here since 1983, so I
kind of love seeing the progressions,” Pettingell said. “I’ve sold
the same property three or four
times, sometimes.”
Pettingell said his team, which
consists of employees who specialize in such areas as internet
marketing and customer support,
can help personalize showings
for a customer. He said he knows
what works and can show that to
buyers and sellers and continue to
prove his results.
He is among the first Realtor to
hold a Smart Home Certification
and recently visited the Consum-

Coldwell Banker Residential Real
Estate’s Roger Pettingell

er Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
“So year after year, I am reinventing myself … reinventing
the edges,” he said. “At the core,
what we’re doing is working, so I
like that.”
He calls Sarasota County a
small world with cutting-edge
technology, but when he attends
CES, he sees other technology
that can further the county.
“Sharpening the sword and
finding new things,” he said.
That’s what keeps me going.”

The Kepecz-Hays and
Buky Team credits its
success to family and
experience.
And it makes sense.
The team consists of Judy
Kepecz-Hays, her son Steven Kepecz, brother Gabe
Buky and nephew Charles
Buky. The team of four
was the top-ranked real
estate group on the MLS
awards report with a total
sales volume of $61.18
million. That placed them
fourth on the list for 2016.
In 2015, the group took
the No. 3 spot on the MLS
list, with $72.6 million in
sales. Kepecz-Hays, who
has been in the industry
since 1978, said the group
hopes to reach $100 million in 2017.
Kepecz-Hays said as a
family, she and her team
communicate well, and
they also draw confidence
from one another. But
having experience and being passionate about the
industry are keys to their
success.
“I love what I do,”
Kepecz-Hays said. “There
isn’t anything else in the
world I would do ... I love
people.”

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JAN. 5

THROUGH THE WIRE
2 p.m. — 0 block of North Lemon
Avenue
Property Damage: A man discovered the driver-side door to
his truck had been damaged and
a taillight broken during the past
day. Next to his parking space,
he noticed a broken post and
cable. The man said the business
operator who owns the parking
lot put the cable and posts up to
keep illegally parked vehicles out
of the lot. The man reported he
suspected a driver attempting to
park illegally did not see the wire
and drove through it, subsequently causing the damage to
the post and his parked truck.

JAN. 6

TRASH TALK
7:56 p.m. — 2100 block of Siesta
Drive
Suspicion: A caller reported an
ongoing problem regarding a motor home parked behind a business and a man going through
the garbage in the area. An officer
located the vehicle and found
the man, who told the officer he
worked at the business and had
just finished work. He said he
was just resting before he left the
area.

Eat

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then conquer

JAN. 8

CUT THE CABLE
10:30 a.m. — 2300 block of
Leon Avenue
Property Damage: A couple
left their home after getting into a fight with their
daughter, who lives in the
home with them. The next
day, they returned home
and found their daughter
sitting in the living room.
They discovered their toilet
was filled with pink dye, and
the cable to their television was cut. The residents
estimated the value of the
cables at $100. There was
no known
suspect
behind
the
incident
at the
time.

JAN. 7

TROUBLED WATER
1:23 p.m. — 2700 block of Bruce
Lane
Dispute: Two roommates got into
an argument after one of them
used a leaky washing machine.
The owner of the home said the
washing machine flooded part
of the home. He said he told his
roommate not to use the machine in the past, and he was
upset she did not clean up all of
the water. The owner is renting

a room to the roommate, and he
wanted her out of the home following the incident. Officers told
the owner there is an eviction
process he has to follow before
he can remove a tenant.

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SARASOTA OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

|

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017

15A

Sarasota hears the

thunder
A
Photos by Anna Brugmann

Don and Kim Scholl, Lisa Fox and Andrew Poulos

lthough Thunder by the Bay moved
to Lakewood Ranch this year, part
of the popular motorcycle charity
event still calls Sarasota home.
The Coral House hosted this year’s
Welcome Thunder block party Jan. 6.
Some people remained skeptical
about the weekend’s activities, predicting weather would cause problems
throughout the event. But other firsttime attendees were just excited to be
a part of the high-octane festivities.
Despite the controversy that followed the decision to relocate the
event, The Coral House owner Ken
Perokop said he was excited about the
chance to host the Welcome Thunder
block party.
“(We’re excited) that we get to do
it, because it got kicked out of (downtown) Sarasota,” Perokop said. “It’s
just a fun event.”

al, have not adequately answered
questions regarding the impact,
and the FDEP hasn’t thoroughly
investigated those issues.
“I don’t feel there’s going to be
a remedy,” Luckner said.
DAVID CONWAY
The County Commission
DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR
declined to file a challenge
Wednesday to the initial FDEP
A key decision from the Florida approval before a Jan. 17 deadDepartment of Environmental line. Luckner was disappointed
Protection has done little to quell by that decision, but said SKA
the ongoing dispute between Lido is not banking all of its hopes on
Key and Siesta Key residents over getting the state to reverse its rulthe proposed dredging of Big Pass. ing following these appeals.
The Siesta Key Association,
“This is truly, in our minds,
Save our Siesta Sand 2 and the not an emergency,” Luckner said.
Florida Wildlife Federation are “It’s just a process we’ve got to go
asking the state to reconsider through — and it doesn’t stop (the
its initial approval of the dredg- county) from joining in at some
ing, part of a project that would point if it looks like they have to.”
renourish eroded portions of
The neighborhood group has
the Lido shoreline. The FDEP formed a Siesta Key Environannounced its intent Dec. 22 to mental Defense Fund, a longissue a permit for the dredging.
term fundraising effort to address
SKA, which represents Siesta environmental issues on the barKey residents, is the latest group rier island. On Lido Key, a differto announce its intent to chal- ent fundraising effort is underlenge. On Wednesday, SKA said it way — one focused on combating
hired Tallahassee law firm Hop- the appeals from Siesta residents.
ping Green & Sams to assist the
The Lido Key Residents Assoopposition effort.
ciation is in the process of hiring
Catherine Luckner, an SKA legal counsel as the review conboard member, said the appeal tinues. The group said it will need
focuses mostly on procedural to raise at least $60,000 to cover
issues. Siesta Key residents have expenses, and is asking residents
expressed concern the project will to contribute toward that cause.
negatively impact the shoreline.
“Now is the time for action to
Luckner said the
city& DINNER
and U.S.
LUNCH
DAILY be taken to save our beach,” LKRA
V E N I C E ’ S WAT E R F RO N T L A N D M A R K
CASUAL TAVERN
MENU President
Army Corps of Engineers,
which
Shoffstall wrote in
S I N C E 1 9Carl
76.
AVAILABLE DOWNSTAIRS
are behind the dredging
proposa
letter
to
residents.
CONSISTENTLY VOTED

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JANUARY 12, 2017

HIGH

SPORTS
1

“Once you stop worrying about other people
and worry about yourself, you can go further.”
– Mariah Walker. SEE PAGE 19

A STRONG

5 REBOUND

Booker alumnus and
University of South
Florida junior running
back Marlon Mack declared
for the NFL Draft on Jan.
5. Mack is South Florida’s
all-time leading rusher with
3,609 yards and 33 touchdowns in 36 games.

a’Da Bennett still wears a
bulky brace on her left leg,
and her doctor recommends
that she wear it for the rest of
her basketball career.
Even though Bennett says it
does not affect her play, the brace
is a cruel reminder of the pain she
felt, and the opportunity she lost
that she is now trying to get back.
On Dec. 3, 2015, Bennett’s Sarasota Sailors were playing Lakewood Ranch. As Bennett recalls,
she was driving to the basket
when her foot got impeded.
“I whipped my leg forward and
it (her knee) just popped back,”
Bennett said.
Bennett went down. It hurt,
but she did not know at the time
just how severe the injury was. In
fact, just before halftime, she was
planning to re-enter the game,
but never got a chance. During the
break, the knee pain worsened,
and a team trainer held her out.
Postgame, Bennett went to the
hospital and received the mostfeared diagnosis. She had torn her
anterior cruciate ligament, as well
as her meniscus.
“She stormed right out of the
room,” said Kimberly Jenkins,
Bennett’s mother. “The nurse
tried to go get her, and I said, ‘No,
leave her alone.’ She was out there
by the lake just crying her little
heart out. That night, when she
got out of the shower, I saw it in
her face. Her eyes were red. She
was literally crying all day and
night.”
Rehab was frustrating. There
were points when Bennett was
not able to keep up with her doctor’s timeline. She decided to
work even harder, adding workouts by herself at the Sarasota
YMCA to her sessions with her
trainer. Three days a week she
would focus on strength, two days
a week on balance.
Her first game back on the court
was the Sailors’ preseason opener
against Alonso. In the practices
leading up to the game, Bennett worried about how her knee
would hold up.
It was a mental hurdle she had
to overcome, but once she arrived
at Sarasota’s Edward F. Howell
gymnasium and stepped into the
locker room, all worries washed
away.
“It was like I never left,” Bennett said.
Indeed, the 5-foot-9 senior
forward has played well this season, even being named the MVP of
the Lady Ram Jam Holiday Classic on Dec. 22, when she scored 20
points and grabbed 11 rebounds in
the Sailors’ championship game
win over The Bolles School. On

Ryan Kohn

Ja’Da Bennett shoots a free throw.

Dec. 6, Bennett faced off against
Lakewood Ranch for the first time
since the injury. Although the
Sailors lost, Bennett was able to
notch a double-double (12 points,
10 rebounds).
Before the injury, Bennett had
scouts from NCAA Division I
schools North Florida and Brown
coming to watch her play, Jenkins
said. Missing the travel ball season during the summer stunted
Bennett’s recruitment.
Now, one of her goals is to
receive a scholarship from anywhere. She has been in touch with
Eckerd College and Barry University, both Division II schools, but
has not received a concrete offer
as of yet.
If basketball does not work out,
Bennett should still find success.
Jenkins described her daughter as
a serious person, especially when
it came to academics.
“I would ask her about a boy,
and she would say, “I don’t want
no boyfriend, I don’t want my
grades to drop,’” Jenkins said.
Bennett’s subject of choice is
math. She’s always been good

with numbers, she said.
Well, here are some numbers of
interest: 16-1. That is the Sailors’
record this season.
The team has a real chance to
reach the Final Four for the first
time since 2013-14, when Bennett
was a freshman and led the team
in rebounding. Not only would
that be nice closure to her high
school career, but it would be a
chance for Bennett to perform on
the biggest stage.
No better way to attract recruiters than that.

18A

SARASOTA OBSERVER

|

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017

PROSE AND KOHN

RYAN KOHN

After-school defense class teaches young kids to combat bullying

I

was not a victim of bullying
growing up, but I know people
who were. Statistically, you
probably do, too.
Almost one out of every four
students (22%) reports being
bullied during the school year,
according to the National Center
for Educational Statistics. Not
all of that is physical bullying,
but a sizable amount of it is. I
believe the earlier we combat the
problem, the easier it will be to
handle.
That’s why I was ecstatic
to find out Phillippi Shores
Elementary School hosts a selfdefense class after school for its
students.
The class is run by Derrick
Clark, who has taught martial
arts for 30 years, the past three
in Sarasota. In addition to the
classes he teaches after school on
different campuses, he runs his
own dojo, Clark’s Self-Defense,
at 4952 Fruitville Road. Clark
works with all ages at his dojo,
but said he likes working with
young kids the most. He has a
way of getting even the most
chatty kids to stop and listen to
his teachings.
The class teaches Kempo
karate, which consists mainly
of low kicks, traps and holds, in
a “kid way,” through games and
competitions. Clark said he tries
to instill in them the power of
using their words to combat bullies, but does teach them ways to
neutralize situations with grappling instead of going straight to

punches. Clark said he has seen
the confidence levels of many of
his students skyrocket.
Based on my one class visit, I
can’t speak on how much it has
increased, but I can report this
group of youngsters certainly has
confidence. They were not shy at
all about performing their moves
in front of a camera, even though
some of them were getting tested

Extraordinary
OUTcomes

for new, higher-ranking belts.
Max Miville, a third-grader,
holds a green belt in the program. He’s so experienced, he
helps demonstrate moves for
other kids in the class. I asked
Miville what his favorite thing
about karate is, and he said sparring, which makes sense.
Even a soft-hearted person
like myself had a tendency to hit

things as a child.
“It’s also fun to fight against
your friends, because you can
see what powers they have — and
weaknesses,” Miville added.
Miville also praised the antibullying aspect of the class.
“We try not to hurt them,”
Miville said. “We just try to keep
them away from us. That’s why
it’s called ‘self-defense.’”

I asked Miville if he had ever
used his self-defense moves
outside of class to combat a
bully, and to my utter delight, he
said yes.
“A guy was trying to push me,
and I flipped him onto some
mulch,” Miville said with a
shrug. “I had to.”
Emma Oliva is a kindergartner,
and just started the program in
the fall. She received her orange/
black belt thanks to her effort,
and she is proud of it. Like Miville, Oliva said her favorite part
of the class is getting to practice
her punches, which she throws
with ferocity. She said she looks
forward to the class because she
learns a lot and has fun.
Though the class is laid-back,
Clark emphasized that the kids
are not handed belts willy-nilly.
They earn them. That attitude
shows in the results.
I probably should not be comforted by the fact that these 6- to
10-year-olds could easily put
me in a behind-the-back arm
lock, but I am. It’s nice knowing
that these kids have the skills to
counter anyone who tries to put
them down or make them feel
bad about themselves.

Ryan Kohn is
a sports writer
for the Sarasota
Observer. Contact
him at rkohn@
yourobserver.com.

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When did you start playing volleyball?
I’ve been playing since the first
grade, so since I was 6. My sisters
started playing, my older sisters,
so I wanted to be like them.
What do you think your best
volleyball skill is?
Well, my primary position is
libero, so it’s on the back row. It’s
a defensive position. That’s what
I like doing the best, and passing.
What is your favorite volleyball
memory?
This year at Riverview when we
won our match to get into the Final Four. We beat Martin County.
That was really fun. The volleyball
team here hadn’t made it that far
in a really long time.
What music do you listen to
before a match?
My sister (Kayla) and I usually listen to music together. We listen
to rap music to get pumped.

What is your favorite movie and
TV show?
My favorite TV show would have
to be “Friends.” My favorite
movie? Probably “Step Brothers.”
Who is your favorite teacher?
This year it’s my English teacher,
Mr. (Michael) Harvey. He just
talks to us, tells us stories. I think
he is my favorite teacher ever.

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What is the hardest you’ve ever
laughed?
It was probably last year
on my club team (Orlando
Tampa Volleyball Association). My friend Elly Frierson ... she just makes
me laugh all the time.

What is your favorite food?
I do like pizza. That’s a go-to. I
just get pepperoni.

If you would like to make a recommendation for the Sarasota
Observer’s Athlete of the Week
feature, send it to Ryan Kohn at
rkohn@yourobserver.com

19A

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11:30 AM – 1:30 PM
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Undergraduate: University of Texas, Austin, TX
Medical School: University of Texas Health Science Center
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Residency:
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Fellowship:
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Israel holds an important role as a Western buffer in the
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Mariah Walker is a freshman volleyball player at Riverview. She
was named to the 2016 MaxPreps Freshman All-American
team, and averaged 2.7 kills, 4.4
digs and 3.8 serve receptions per
match with only 7 errors, helping
lead the Rams to their first district title since 2006 and eventually the state semifinals.

Sotheby’s International Realty® and the Sotheby’s International Realty logo are registered service marks used with permission. Each office is independently owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity. Property information herein
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BABY
STEPS
At a crossroad in her life,
Ashley Murphy decided
to make some changes.
ANNA BRUGMANN
STAFF WRITER

Every journey beings with a single
step, or so the cliche goes.
In Ashley Murphy’s case that
step involved dance, and her journey was to fitness.
She struggled with her weight
since she was young, but in 2008
her weight reached an all-time
high. That’s when she decided to
make a change.
Murphy, 31, started going to
a local Jazzercise class taught
by Patti Horvath, who would
become a close friend and mentor. Fiercely motivated, she lost
50 pounds in her first six months
and gained a community of likeminded women.
“They embraced me, and it was
a life-changing experience for me
because it was the first time I had
actually found a fitness program
that I wanted to stick with,” Murphy said.
Murphy’s life changed again
when she became pregnant with
her son in 2013. But she didn’t quit
her Jazzercise habit. In fact, she
maintained her fitness routine
until she was 38 weeks pregnant.
After her son was born, Murphy
said the mommy-guilt set in.
“I worked full time … I just
didn’t have the capacity at night
to go away from my son any more
than I already was during the day,”
Murphy said. “I kind of let it fall
by the wayside, and that broke my
heart, because that was one of my
biggest joys before having a kid.”

Once her son turned 2, she
said she felt comfortable taking
Jazzercise classes in the evenings.
That’s when Murphy found out
she was pregnant again.
“I figured this is going to be my
last shot to hang out with these
people and really enjoy it, because
I knew what was going to happen,”
Murphy said. “If it happened with
one it was certainly going to happen with two.”
She didn’t want to leave her
children. Nor did she want to give
up her fitness routine, either. So
Murphy set out to solve her own
problem. That’s when Mama’s
Got Groove — a dance fitness
program for pregnant and babywearing moms — was conceived.
Like most wild ideas — Google,
the personal computer, Mickey
Mouse — Murphy nurtured her
concept for a mommy-friendly
aerobic business in a garage.

Her workspace is cramped. Her
desk faces a wall cluttered with
inspirational quotes. A ballet
bar stands on the concrete floor.
There’s no air conditioning in
Murphy’s makeshift workspace,
just a small fan to help her fend off
the Florida heat. It has its flaws,
but what her office lacks in amenities, it makes up for in location.
It’s mere feet from her children’s rooms, which is convenient
because all of Murphy’s exercise
classes are B.Y.O.B. — bring your
own baby, that is.
She’s choreographed dozens
of routines, many while pregnant with her now 4-month-old
daughter.
Although dance fitness helped
Murphy lose weight, she said she
is not personally motivated by a
number on a scale. Instead, after
having two children, Murphy set
her sights on health.
“I cannot go back to who I was
(before I was pregnant),” she said.
“I can become a better version of

myself, and I think that’s even
more important to aspire to.”
She taught her first class on Jan.
2 in Arlington Park gym, and she
said she hopes her classes will
offer what she found in Horvath’s
Jazzercise class eight years ago —
community.
“The idea is that (moms) can
come and lose weight if that’s
one of their goals, but it doesn’t
have to be,” Murphy said. “If they
want to come and just work out
with other moms and just have
a healthy environment to make
new relationships, that’s awesome, too.”
As the first two women filed
into the gym on that first day,
Murphy saw her dreams come to
life.
It was the beginning of a community.
Her journey could have been
easier. She could have joined an
existing franchise, like Jazzercise,
where the routines are choreographed and the marketing burden is lighter. But Murphy said
she had a vision and the ambition
to make it a reality.
“That girl’s got drive,” Horvath
said of her former student. “If she
wants it done, she will, by golly,
get it done.”
Murphy has come a long way
from practicing routines in her
garage.
“I’m still on a journey,” Murphy
said. “I will be a journey for the
rest of my life.”

SARASOTA OBSERVER

|

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017

Temple Emanu-El stages
Hanukkah production

T

he stage
was set Dec.
11 at Temple
Emanu-El for the
seventh-graders’
re-enactment of
Judah Maccabee’s reclaiming
of the Temple of
Jerusalem.
It is a familiar
story with an
adorable twist
as the children
donned their
worn out wigs
and fake beards.
The performance
was met by thunderous applause
from the delighted audience.
More Hanukkah
festivities followed the performance, including
crafts, snacks
and a crazy sock
exchange. Instead
of a typical gift
exchange, each
child brought two
pairs of crazy
socks — one to
exchange in their
classes and one
to donate.

Photos by Anna Brugmann

Donna Heffner, Lynne Heuston and Cally Rothman

Orchid Society celebrates 60

A

Photos by Anna Brugmann

Emma Witherspoon, Dani Mallitz and Ava Rosin color during the
craft portion of the celebration.

Rick Van Rijssen inspects some of the orchids for
sale at the festival.
Alina Van
Regenmorter
helped her
grandmother, Joanne
Wuelfing (not
pictured),
select an
orchid to
purchase.

Joey and Eli Hannan

— ANNA
BRUGMANN

dreary Saturday
afternoon gave
way to a floral paradise Jan. 7 for attendees of the 60th annual
Sarasota Orchid Society
festival at Sarasota Municipal Auditorium.
This year’s festival, A
Symphony of Orchids,
featured orchids for purchase from professional
growers. The festival
also showcased submissions from the Venice,
Englewood and Sarasota
orchid societies submitted for judging.
— ANNA BRUGMANN

Part goofball, and Good dog!, he’s a Labrador retriever of
impeccable pedigree—and pure puppy passion. But in just two
years he’ll become freedom, confidence and independence for
someone who could really use it.
Help us make

all he can be: A Southeastern Guide Dog.

227636

2B

SARASOTA OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

BeallsFlorida.com

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017

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RAINFOREST MASKS OF COSTA RICA AT SELBY GARDENS
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
kicks off the new year with an
exhibit of the Rainforest Masks
of Costa Rica. The showcase of
these hand-carved masks created by the Native Americans of
Boruca, Costa Rica is underway
and continues until Jan. 29 in the
historic Payne Mansion in Selby
Gardens. For more information,
visit to selby.org.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 11
TO APRIL 20

LEGACY TRAIL SURREY RIDE
PROGRAM
The Surrey Ride Program returns
to Legacy Trail until April. 20.
The program, which is underway,
offers residents and visitors who
are mobility challenged a chance
to enjoy Legacy Trail. Riders can
sit back and enjoy the ride on
a four-passenger, four-wheeled
canopy covered bicycle while
a Friends of Legacy Trail volunteer provides a 45-minute trip
down the trail. The ride includes
information and history of the
Legacy Trail and its surroundings. It takes place 9 a.m. to noon
each Wednesday and Thursday.
The ride begins at the Sandra
Sims Terry Community Center at
Laurel Park at 509 Collins Road.
Registration is required for your
free ride. For more information
call 861-5000. To register, call
486-2757.

FRIDAY, JAN. 13

JEREMY FILSELL CONCERT
St. Boniface Episcopal Church
on Siesta Key welcomes back renowned musician Jeremy Filsell,
for a concert at 7 p.m. The concert is sponsored by the St. Boniface Friends of Music. Admission
is free. For more information visit
bonifacechurch.org.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
UNITY WALK
The community is invited to
participate in the Martin Luther
King Jr. Unity Walk from 11 a.m. to
5 p.m. on Monday. The walk will
begin at 11 a.m. at the R. L. Taylor
Community Complex at 1845
34th St. and conclude at Martin
Luther King Jr. Park at the corner
of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and
Cocoanut Avenue. Festivities will
follow in the park. For more information go to sarasotagov.com

The Pedrolas performed complete shows with high and low
wires, a wire comedy act and
aerial cradles.

SATURDAY, JAN. 14

CIRCUS RING OF FAME
Starts at 2 p.m. at St. Armands Circle Central Park.
The annual event recognizes
those who have made a
significant contribution to
circus history. This year’s
inductees include Henry
Ringling North, trapeze
artist Reggie Armour and
circus horse Starless Night.
For information, visit
circusringoffame.org.

258TH BIRTHDAY BASH
FOR POET ‘RABBIE’ BURNS
The St. Andrew Society of
Sarasota is hosting the 258th
birthday celebration of Robert
Burns, the Scottish poet and
lyricist, at 5 p.m. at the Palm Aire
Country Club, at 5601 Country Club Way. The public event
features a scotch tasting and
traditional Scottish food. The
Blue Skye Pipes and Drums band
will perform. Admission is $65
for members and $75 for nonmembers. For information, visit
standrewsocietysarasota.com.
Call Carl Morris at 355-3028 to
make reservations, or email him
at morrisc1a1@verizon.net.

Better not
miss Breakfast.
Start your morning right with our
freshly baked danish and flaky
almond croissants. Or how about a
omelette on a croissant or our
ham & egg bagel sandwich?

RINGLING BRIDGE RUN
The 14th annual Sarasota YMCA
Ringling Bridge Run includes a
4-mile race and a 1-mile fun run.
The route starts at the Van Wezel
Performing Arts Hall at 777 N.
Tamiami Trail. Registration for the
4-mile course is $25 for those
18 and under, and $35 for teams
and individuals older than 18.
Registration for the 1-mile fun run
is $20. All proceeds benefit the
Frank G. Berlin Sr. Branch of the
Sarasota YMCA. For information,
or to register for the race, visit
sarasotaymca.org.

11TH ANNUAL ALL-TRAILS
HIKE AND CONCERT
The hike begins at 8 a.m. Jan.
14 at Oscar Scherer State Park,
1843 S. Tamiami Trail, Osprey.
Hikers can choose from 15 miles
of trail to create their own route
or follow the route suggestions.
Lunch begins at 11 a.m. and a
concert will follow at noon at the
Nature Center until 2 p.m. Admission is $10 for individuals 16 and
older. Attendees younger than
16 are free with a paid adult. For
information, call 483-5956.

Participants in the annual Andrew
Monroe Memorial 5K on Jan. 8
had to add extra layers to their
usual running attire.
The temperature was 37, and
the wind whipped up sand along
Siesta Key Beach.
Stil, 235 runners were at the
starting line at race time.
The event honors former Riverview High School soccer player
Andrew Monroe, who died in a
2011 car crash. Andrew’s mother,
Stacey Monroe, organizes the race

with a portion of the proceeds
benefiting the Andrew Monroe
Memorial Fund through the Sarasota County Community Fund. It
offers scholarships to Sarasota
County soccer players. Another
portion is set aside for Riverview
students.
Taylor Henninge finished first
with a time of 18:18.
Monroe awarded trophies to
each of the top finishers and
looked out at the hundreds of
people who braved the unseasonably cold weather to honor her
son’s legacy.
“It’s heartwarming,” she said.

210910

ANNA BRUGMANN

Bradenton

Member of Manatee Physician Alliance

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Mary Rainey is fascinated by
weather — a proud weather geek.
It all stems from 2004, when she
moved to Florida and was greeted
with not one, not two, not three,
but four hurricanes — Charley,
Frances, Ivan and Jeanne.
Rainey, a native of Chicagoland
who came to the Sunshine State
via Akron, Ohio, said she was

familiar with tornadoes, but hurricanes were a monster of a different sort. You knew it was coming, you just didn’t know when,
exactly, or where it would land.
“That year, I drank wine and
played Scrabble, and that’s how I
got through the four storms,” she
said.
In 2005, she changed her tactics. Instead of hunkering down
with wine, Rainey suited up.
Education was her armor.
She started taking American
Red Cross crisis response classes
and armed herself with information from weather blogs on the
Weather Underground website.
Not only could she read real-time

ISPR GOVERNING
BOARD MEETING

JOHN ZACIRA, BRANCH MANAGER

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26TH 2017
4:00–7:00 PM

Tuesday, January 17th, 1pm
Imagine School at Palmer Ranch

8590 POTTER PARK DRIVE
SARASOTA, FL 34238

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accounts of the storms as they
moved through the gulf, she could
see them via webcam.
Armed with knowledge and
training, she no longer hoped the
storms would miss her. Instead,
she wanted to meet them head
on. But her training did not prepare her for the scale of destruction she saw during her first trip.
Two days after Hurricane
Katrina made landfall Aug. 29,
2005, on the northern Gulf Coast,
Rainey was sharing a plane with
the National Guard, the media
and her other aid workers.
She went to Mobile, Ala., which
saw the severe flooding in the
wake of the storm.
There, she watched television news reports of the cascading disaster underway in
New Orleans, about 140 miles
to the west. More than 50 levees
and flood walls protecting New
Orleans and its suburbs failed
after Katrina made landfall in
Mississippi. Eighty percent of
New Orleans and all of St. Bernard
Parish flooded.
When she had a rare break, she
made her way to New Orleans

We are giving the gift of reading to
hundreds of children in need in Sarasota
County through the new Children’s
Literacy Endowment.
Thank you to all 198 donors who helped us reach our goal of
$500,000 by December 31 - and to these leadership donors:

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017

223491

If you would like to volunteer, donate or take a class
with the American Red
Cross, visit redcross.org/
support.

and saw firsthand Katrina’s
indiscriminate destruction. The
mountains of rubbish left in front
of homes, their front doors left
open to reveal bare walls, made a
lasting impression.
“It really hit me in the pit of my
stomach — that could happen to
everybody. Whether you are poor
and living next to the river or very
wealthy, it just affects everybody,”
Rainey said.
Severe weather and its tendency to ignore social partitions has
motivated Rainey throughout her
decade of Red Cross service.
Just as severe weather is indiscriminate in its destruction,
Rainey said she must be equally
as indiscriminate with her compassion.
At first, she said, it was Catholic
guilt that motivated her to volunteer with the Red Cross. But that’s
not what compelled her to volunteer during nearly every major
natural disaster on U.S. soil in the
past decade.
“I couldn’t stand sitting on my
couch when I could positively
affect the situation,” Rainey said.
She is 75 now, and while some
may see her age as a hindrance,
she argues it’s given her the flexibility to fly off on a moment’s
notice, whether it’s going to
Orlando to greet refugees after
a 2010 earthquake in Haiti, or to
Norman, Okla., in 2013 to lend
a hand following a massive tornado.
Megarie van Sickel, executive
director of the Southwest Florida Chapter of the American Red
Cross, said age should never stop
someone from volunteering.
“It’s really when the volunteer
feels like they have committed
enough time and enough service,”
van Sickel said. “I don’t see (Rainey) stepping down any time soon.”

A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION FOR LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR SARASOTA COUNTY, INC. (REGISTRATION NO.CH35489) MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY
CALLING TOLL-FREE 1-800-435-7352 WITHIN THE STATE OR VISITING THEIR WEBSITE WWW.FRESHFROMFLORIDA.COM. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.

Janice Weintraub, of New York
City, sold her Unit 1001 condominium at 1255 N. Gulfstream
Ave. to Jack and Barbara Sobel,
of Delray Beach, for $858,000.
Built in 1982, it has three
bedrooms, two baths and 1,901
square feet of living area. It
previously sold for $480,000
in 2012.

RESEARCH EDITOR

A

home in Indian Beach
tops all transactions in
this week’s real estate. Michael and Michelle
Gacioch sold their home
at 3049 Bay Shore Road to
SIESTA KEY
Dale and Michele Asplund,
SOMERSET COVE
of Sarasota, for $2,862,500.
David and Kathryn Fleeman,
of Sarasota, sold their Unit 11
Built in 1999, it has four
condominium at 3914 Sombedrooms, five-and-a-half
erset Drive to John and PatriHansen, of Sarasota, for
baths, a pool and 5,215 square cia
$825,000. Built in 1993, it has
feet of living area. It previthree bedrooms, three-and-abaths and 2,758 square feet
ously sold for $1.9 million in half
of living area. It previously sold
for $642,500 in 2015.
2011.
SIESTA TOWN HOUSE
Paul and Helen Richardson,
of Sarasota, sold their Units
207 and 208 condominium at
4532 Ocean Blvd. to James and
Nanci Roberts, of Sarasota, for
$750,000. Built in 1963, it has
three bedrooms, three-anda-half baths and 2,448 square
feet of living area. It previously
sold for $1,050,200 in 2009.

SARASOTA
LA BELLASARA
Teresa Lee-Kay sold the Unit
404 condominium at 464
Golden Gate Point to William
and Lisa Kanehann, of Wynnewood, Pa., for $2,499,000.
Built in 2006, it has three
bedrooms, three-and-a-half
baths and 3,290 square feet of
living area. It previously sold
for $1.95 million in 2015.

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS

DEC. 26 - 30

Other top sales by area
SIESTA KEY

BAY PLAZA

ADAM HUGHES

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017

Revised Siesta
Kenneth and Malinda
Laird, of Edmond, Okla.,
sold their home at 231
Garden Lane to Robert
and Amy Lykins, of Union
City, Ind., for $1.2 million.
Built in 2002, it has three
bedrooms, five baths, a
pool and 4,225 square feet
of living area. It previously
sold for $715,000 in 2009.

PALMER RANCH
Silver Oak

Paul and Katie Szafarczyk,
trustees, of Hinsdale, Ill.,
sold the home at 8959
Wildlife Loop to Timothy
Pieper and Shirley Pieper,
trustees, of Union, Ky., for
$869,000. Built in 2003,
it has four bedrooms,
three-and-a-half baths, a
pool and 3,233 square feet
of living area. It previously
sold for $715,000 in 2011.

OSPREY

Bayside
Taylor Morrison of Florida
Inc. sold the home at 3933
Waypoint Ave. to Raymond and Jo Ann Minzner,
of Osprey, for $779,000.
Built in 2016, it has three
bedrooms, three baths, a
pool and 2,391 square feet
of living area.

9B

REAL ESTATE

Bay Shore Road home
sells for $2,862,500

|

NOKOMIS
Casey Key

Andrew and Nona Biser,
of Towson, Md., sold their
home at 3820 Cutlass Byu
to Anne Glazebrook-Pittet,
of Dallas, for $1.25 million.
Built in 1957, it has two
bedrooms, two-and-ahalf baths and 2,171 square
feet of living area. It previously sold for $665,000 in
2012.

ONLINE
See more transactions at YourObserver.com

PALMER RANCH

AQUALANE ESTATES
Mark Anderson sold his home
at 1617 Stanford Lane to Daniel
and Carla Sullivan, of Sarasota,
for $1.6 million. Built in 1975, it
has three bedrooms, two-anda-half baths, a pool and 3,106
square feet of living area. It
previously sold for $2.45 million in 2005.

ARBOR LAKES
ON PALMER RANCH
Taylor Morrison of Florida Inc.
sold the home at 6199 Anise
Drive to David and Shaina
Starr, of Sarasota, for $633,100.
Built in 2016, it has four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths
and 4,087 square feet of living
area.

The patient and any other person responsible for payment has a right to refuse to pay, cancel payment or be reimbursed for payment for any other service, examination or treatment
that is performed as a result of and within 72 hours of responding to the advertisement for the free, discounted fee or reduced fee service, examination or treatment.
MM32608

Call 941-552-1283 to Register!!!
Includes FREE Nicotine patches, gum or lozenges*
More than DOUBLES your chances of success!
Program covers all forms of tobacco.

226059

*if medically appropriate and 18 years of age or older.

Only one thing missing Jan. 9
from Ringling College of Art
and Design’s recently completed
Alfred Goldstein Library was the
last batch of books.
Luckily, Ringling College had
no shortage of willing volunteers
to help get the last 200 books of
the college’s 75,000-volume collection from Kimbrough Library
to the new facility.
Students and faculty lined
Martin Luther King Jr. Way, their
assembly line crossing the intersection of Old Bradenton Road, to
deliver the volumes to their new
home.
Director of Library Services
Kristina Keough was the last person in the assembly line. She piled
books on shelves, looking forward

to allowing the students inside.
“The most exciting thing is to
watch the students walk into this
building,” she said. “This is their
space.”
Ringling College of Art and
Design President Larry Thompson echoed that sentiment while
addressing faculty and students
in front of the library.
He called the facility “the
library of the future,” not only
because of the technology available within the facility, but also
because of its potential to facilitate student collaboration.
“It has a lot of books — 75,000
of them as a matter of fact — but
it’s also a place for students to be
able to work together, collaborate
and explore ... You, the students,
you are the future,” Thompson
said.

Design

of West Florida, Inc.

Build

Maintain

Professional In-House Construction
Family Owned and Operated
Since 1994

Dr. Suzanne Lutton brings to Intercoastal Medical Cardiac & Vascular Group
a wealth of knowledge and experience in Cardiac & Vascular medicine,
utilizing the most current technologies and techniques to address your
cardiology needs, from the routine to the complicated.

Fla. Seller of Travel
Ref. No. ST38701

FREE ALASKA SEMINARS

TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT, PLEASE CALL TODAY

NOW is the time to start planning your 2017/2018 Alaska Dream Vacation!

Attend one of our No Pressure, Informative Seminars and Learn the FACTS about Alaska travel!
Get Expert Travel Planning Advice! No advance reservations required to attend.

Beautiful full bay views looking south from this spacious 2200 sf condo. Dolphin Bay is one of the newer gated complexes on
Siesta Key. Just a short walk to the powdery white sand beaches that have won so many awards. The condo has shellstone
floors throughout, Plantation shutters. Kitchen with granite counters, tumbled marble backsplash, breakfast bar, plus island.
The 17x13 lanai is glassed and screened, perfect for watching the boats travel up and down the Intracoastal Waterway.
Dolphin Bay has a fabulous clubhouse, 3 Har-Tru tennis courts, heated pool, spa, fitness center and fishing pier/day dock.
The condo is being sold furnished for your convenience, so just bring
your toothbrush and bathing suit. The bay views are incredible!
MLS#A4173008 Offered at $1,200,000

Sotheby’s International Realty® and the Sotheby’s International Realty logo are registered service marks
used with permission. Each office is independently owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Call Stacy Liljeberg at 941-544-6103

Offered at $899,900

Ken Kiesewetter
941.724.9222

stacyliljeberg@michaelsaunders.com
Voted 5-Star Best in Client Satisfaction for 11 consecutive years

kkiese2000@aol.com

Michael Saunders & Company
Licensed Real Estate Broker

Coldwell Banker
Siesta Key Ofﬁce

Congratulates its December, 2016 Leaders...
Top Listing Associates
in Volume

Top Selling Associate
in Units

Top Selling Associates
in Volume

Top Closing Associates
in Units & Volume

Christine Green
941.914.2463

Jay & Kyle Mitchell
941.586.1754

Greg Hudson
941.302.1485

Jay & Kyle Mitchell
941.586.1754

Lois Seropian 941.356.4195
Bill Riley 941.232.8941

5145 Ocean Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34242

941.349.4411 FloridaMoves.com

227810

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE

Top Listing Associate
in Units

WEATHER

12B

SARASOTA OBSERVER

|

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017

FORECAST

NATURE’S BEAUTY WITH

THURSDAY, JAN. 12
High: 80
Low: 60
Chance
of rain: 10%

SUNRISE / SUNSET

Sunrise Sunset

Thursday, Jan. 12

7:22a

5:55p

Friday, Jan. 13

7:21a

5:56p

Saturday, Jan. 14

7:21a

5:57p

Sunday, Jan. 15

7:21a

5:58p

Monday, Jan. 16

7:21a

5:58p

FRIDAY, JAN. 13

Tuesday, Jan. 17

7:21a

5:59p

High: 80
Low: 60
Chance
of rain: 20%

Wednesday, Jan. 18

7:21a

6:00p

MOON PHASES

SATURDAY, JAN. 14
High: 79
Low: 60
Chance
of rain: 10%

SUNDAY, JAN. 15
High: 80
Low: 61
Chance
of rain: 10%

Jan. 12
Full

Jan. 19
Last

Jan. 27
New

RAINFALL
Monday, Jan. 2

0.00

Tuesday, Jan. 3

0.00

Wednesday, Jan. 4

0.01

Thursday, Jan. 5

0.00

Friday, Jan. 6

0.09

Saturday, Jan. 7
Niki Muller captured this photo of wood storks feeding in the shallow water of Sarasota Bay.

Homes For Sale
2BR/2BA PALMER Ranch Welcome to Village
Walk, a gated community. This well maintained
home is poured in place concrete and steel.
Home features 2 car garage, a great room,
vaulted ceilings, plantation shutters throughout
and an open den looking onto a covered lanai.
Home is equipped with central vac, hurricane
shutters and alarm system. Brick pavers and
barrel tile roof highlight the exterior. Numerous
Clubhouse amenities. No agents/brokers.
$308,900. (941) 927−5873.

Religion
ST. JUDE O holy St. Jude, Apostle & Martyr, great
in virtue and rich in miracles, near kinsman of
JESUS CHRIST, faithful intercessor of all who
invoke your special patronage in time of need. To
humbly beg to whom GOD has given such great
power to come to my assistance. Help me in my
present and urgent petition. In return I promise to
make your name known and need to be invoked.
Say 3 OUR FATHERS, 3 HAIL MARYS &
3 GLORY BE’s. Publication must be promised. ST.
JUDE, PRAY FOR US ALL WHO INVOKE YOUR
AID. AMEN. This novena must be said on 9
consecutive days. Thank you St. Jude for
answering my petition. -MGL

Adult Care Services
Personalized in-home care to meet any needs.
We provide medical and non-medical services
24/7. From transportation and housekeeping to
meal preparation and medication assistance. We
can create a customized plan that works for you.
Call ElderCare Services at 377-4465 or visit our
website at: www.ElderCareSarasota.com for more
information. Licensed, bonded and Insured.
Lic# 30211372
PRIVATE DUTY HOME HEALTH CARE TEAM
available for the first time in 6 years highly reliable
and qualified home care team 5 members to
manage all aspects of your loved ones household
and health needs. Excellent references. Cost is
less than agency rates. For Daily or 24/7 care.
Contact: 941-306-7193.

RETIRED FEMALE police officer able to stay in
your home while you are away or if your parent
needs a safe companion to live with them. Quiet,
clean, dependable and trustworthy. 216-244-0944.
SEMI RETIRED medical professional focusing on
the elderly over 30 years. Compassionate, caring.
References. 614-315-6261.

WOOD FLOORS AND LAMINATE Sales and
Installation. Master craftsman working in and
around lakewood ranch and Sarasota. over 15
years excellent references. Fully Licensed and
Insured. Call for free estimates Joe Davis,
941.929.3000.

Sotheby’s International Realty® and the Sotheby’s International Realty logo are registered service marks used with permission. Each office is independently owned and operated.
Equal Housing Opportunity. Property information herein is derived from various sources including, but not limited to, county records and multiple listing services, and may include
approximations. All information is deemed accurate and neither suggests nor infers that Sotheby’s International Realty participated as either the listing or cooperating agent or
broker in the sale or purchase of the properties depicted. Colorado listing courtesy of The Boyd Team, Steamboat Sotheby’s International Realty.